Conventionally, passenger's vehicles and other various types of vehicles have been automatized. According to the automatization of the vehicles, various control equipment and electronic equipment such as CPU are mounted on the vehicles.
These control equipment and electronic equipment are electrically connected by a wire harness so that electric power can be supplied to the equipment and further control signals to control the equipment can be communicated by the equipment.
The wire harness 100 shown in FIG. 14 is essentially composed in such a manner that various types of connectors such as a male type connector 101 and a female type connector 102 are connected with each other by a plurality of electric wires 103 and bundled with the tape 104 and the like.
The type and number of the connectors, the type and number of the electric wires 103 and the branch positions of the wire harness are freely changed, for example, according to the wiring position in a vehicle. Further, the bundling method is not limited to the tape 104. Depending upon the number of the electric wires 103, the electric wires 103 are inserted into the tube 105 for bundling. Alternatively, the electric wires 103 are bound by cords at predetermined intervals. In the case where the adjoining connectors are connected with each other or the electric wires are grounded at a position close to the connector, the electric wires are not bundled as shown by reference numeral 103a in some cases. In this case, the ground terminal 106 for grounding is crimped at the end portion of the electric wires.
In the case of laying the wire harness 100 in a vehicle, the connectors 101, 102 are engaged and connected with the connector terminals provided in the electronic equipment or the connectors provided in the other wire harness. The ground terminal 106 is screwed and fixed to a vehicle body or the like.
Portions of the wire harness bundled by the tape 104 are fixed to portions of the vehicle body with appropriate engaging members, so that the connectors can be prevented from being disconnected when vibration is given to the connectors while the vehicle is driving and further vibration of the entire wire harness 100 can be prevented.
As a result, even when the vehicle is used in a severe environment, disconnection of the connectors and breaking of the electric wires can be prevented.
In this connection, the connectors 101, 102 are composed in such a manner that terminals connected with electric wires are inserted into a housing made of synthetic resin. The connector terminals are composed of a conductive metal sheet formed into an appropriate shape. According to the form of connecting the electric wires, the connector terminals are classified into a pressure-connecting terminal and a crimping terminal.
In the pressure-connecting terminal, pressure-connecting blades used for connecting the electric wires are arranged being opposed to each other on the inner side faces of an electric wire connecting portion, the lateral cross section of which is formed into a U-shape. In the case of connecting the electric wire, the electric wire covered with the sheath is press-fitted into between the pressure-connecting blades.
As a result, the pressure-connecting blades cut the sheath of the electric wire and come into contact with the core wire. Therefore, the electric wire and the pressure-connecting terminal are connected with each other capable of being electrically connected.
On the other hand, in the case of the crimping terminal, both wall portions of the electric wire connecting portion can be bent. The lateral cross section of the electric wire connecting portion is formed into a U-shape. In the case of connecting the electric wire, the sheath is stripped off from the electric wire so as to expose the core wire. Next, the core wire is positioned in the electric wire connecting portion, and then both wall portions are bent so that the core wire can be crimped.
As a result, the core wire and the crimping terminal are connected with each other capable of being electrically connected.
Incidentally, the wire harness 100 is shown in the drawing and explained simply as a wire 103, however, the wire harness 100 actually includes various electric wires, that is, electric wires of large diameters and electric wires of small diameters are used together with each other according to the amount of an electric current flowing in the electric wire. Further, a twist wire is used for the wire harness 100. Furthermore, a shielded wire is jointly used in the wire harness 100 for the high frequency circuit such as an antenna circuit and for the circuit to control fuel injection so that noise generated in the circuit can be reduced.
As described above, it is a fact that various electric wires are provided in the actual wire harness 100 being mixed with each other. When these various electric wires are connected with the pressure-connecting terminals and the crimping terminal, the following advantages and disadvantages are provided.
First, the advantages of the pressure-connecting terminal are described as follows. Since the pressure-connecting terminal is composed in such a manner that the pressure-connecting terminal is contacted with the core wire when the blades cut into the sheath of the electric wire. Therefore, the connecting work is simple, and this pressure-connecting terminal is suitably used for automatization. However, disadvantageous of the pressure-connecting terminal are as follows. When the diameter of the electric wire is small with respect to the interval of the pressure-connecting blades which are arranged being opposed to each other, it is impossible to connect the electric wire with the pressure-connecting terminal. Further, in the case of an electric wire of a large diameter, the diameter of the electric wire to be connected with the pressure-connecting terminal is limited. Furthermore, the pressure-connecting terminal can not be applied to a shielded wire. It is difficult for the pressure-connecting terminal to be connected with a twist wire.
On the other hand, advantageous of the crimping terminal is as follows. The crimping terminal is composed so that the core wire of the electric wire can be crimped for connection. Therefore, not only the shielded wire and twist wire but also the electric wires of different diameters can be connected. Further, since the connection can be conducted by crimping, the connecting strength is high.
However, disadvantageous of the crimping terminal is as follows. In the case of the crimping terminal, it is necessary to strip the sheath from the electric wire so as to expose the core wire. In addition to the manual work conducted for crimping, this stripping work for stripping the sheath from the electric wire deteriorates the working property, which raises the production cost.
Incidentally, JP-A-2000-231959 discloses “Method of Manufacturing Pressure-connecting terminal”. According to the method of manufacturing a pressure-connecting terminal, electric wires are pressure-connected with the pressure-connecting terminals arranged in parallel in a band-shaped insulating carrier so that the insulating carrier having the electric wires can be composed. This insulating carrier having the electric wires is cut into pieces, the number of which is the required number of poles, and accommodated in a case so that the pressure-connecting terminal can be composed.
According to the above constitution, the pressure-connecting connectors, the number of which is the same as the number of the required poles, can be simply and quickly obtained. When the crimping terminals can be applied to the thus disclosed pressure-connecting connector, this connector can be used for multiple objects.
By the way, as explained referring to FIG. 14, the pressure-connecting terminals and the crimping terminals are arranged in the actual wire harness 100 being mixed with each other.
When the pressure-connecting terminals and the crimping terminals are arranged being mixed with each other, it becomes difficult to automatize the assembling process of assembling the connectors 101, 102. Accordingly, it is difficult to reduce the cost of manufacturing the wire harness.